High-risk HPV persistent infection leads to the development of certain types of cancers in the cervix, anus, and oropharynx, for example. Fifteen mucosal HPV types are identified as oncogenic or high-risk (HR) HPVs, with HPV16 and HPV18 being particularly associated with invasive cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide. Approximately 500,000 incident cases of cervical cancer and approximately 320,000 cervical cancer deaths are estimated each year and more than 80% of the cases arise in developing countries.
There is a need for diagnostic markers that can be detected and used for early diagnosis of high-risk HPV infection, HPV-associated pre-cancer and HPV-associated cancer and for the development of intervention strategies for treatment of HPV-induced cancers.